Silver Lining to Heavy Rain: No More Drought in MN

ST. PAUL, MN (AP) - This week's heavy rains have extinguished the last remaining patch of drought in Minnesota.

Thursday's update from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows the state completely free of drought and abnormally dry conditions.

Pete Boulay, a climatologist with the Department of Natural Resources, says the last time Minnesota was completely free of any drought designation was for two weeks in July of 2011. And the last time Minnesota was drought-free before that was in June of 2006.

The Drought Monitor map had been showing a slowly shrinking area of drought and abnormally dry conditions in the state's southwestern corner for the last several weeks. That included the Luverne area, which was drenched over the weekend and again Monday. Luverne has now received nearly 13 inches of rain since June 1.

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